NBA Embraces Snapchat and Google Hangouts For the NBA 2014 Draft

Having enjoyed solid ratings for the NBA Finals, the league is looking to keep its brand in the spotlight with a set of unique social media marketing stunts timed for this Thursday's NBA Draft.

Specifically, after testing Snapchat several times during this past season, the National Basketball Association will employ the popular social application--which features video messages that disappear after just a few seconds--to provide fans with a unique vantage point for Thursday night's event in New York. For example, fans who engage with the NBA on Snapchat will get to see exclusive clips of players arriving at the event on the NBA's bus as well as an up-close look at the table storing the team hats each drafted player receives from NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

The NBA first started testing Snapchat during its All-Star game in February. During the recently completed finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, the NBA produced exclusive Snapchat videos in between games, such as a clip featuring Spurs star Kawhi Leonard posing with NBA legend Bill Russell following the conclusion of game 5.

Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, the NBA's Senior Vice President of Digital Media said that the league was able to generate "hundreds of thousands of views" on Snapchat during the finals. The key to Snapchat success, said Ms. Brenner, was to have a legitimate reason to use the platform and take advantage of its unique characteristics.

"We've found what works is using Snapchat to tease content and gave fans unique vantage point," she said. "Snapchat makes content more precious, and because its generally secretive what players do before games or on draft night, it gives fans a sense of being a fly on the wall."

For NBA fans, better than being a fly on the wall might be actually chatting with NBA players. And some fans will get that chance on draft night via a partnership between the NBA and Google. The league is inviting fans to host Google+ Hangouts on draft night, with the promise that some of the top draft prospects will surprise these fans by 'crashing' their hangouts.

The NBA has begun promoting these hangouts on Tuesday and via hashtags such as #NBADraftCrash or #TEAMNAMEDraftCrash. Plus, it plans to take the best clips from these hangouts and push them out across the NBA's various social media channels (the league says it has over 635 million fans/followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms).

"Fans will have a chance to talk to a player on one of the biggest days of their lives," said Ms. Brenner.